Congestive heart failure (CHF) is recognized as the most common cause of hospitalization and mortality in Western society. CHF is an extremely serious affliction that has a great impact on the quality of life; it involves the loss of heart rate variability and rate responsive mechanisms in the heart, leading to impaired ventricular relaxation and low exercise tolerance. The disease afflicts about 4 million Americans in any given year; in the USA alone, there are annually about 400,000 new cases, 1 million hospital admissions, and $8 billion cost of care. Congestive heart failure is a syndrome characterized by left ventricular dysfunction, reduced exercise tolerance, impaired quality of life and dramatically shortened life expectancy. Decreased contractility of the left ventricle leads to reduced cardiac output with consequent systemic arterial and venous vasoconstriction. CHF develops generally in the course of months or years, and can be the end stage of chronic hypertension, infarction, angina, or diabetes. Heart failure, however caused, represents an intrinsic property of the muscle, and slow relaxation due to slow intracellular calcium removal by the sarcoplasmic reticulum is an important factor. In the normal, healthy heart the duration of contraction and relaxation decreases with increasing heart rate. This ensures a diastolic period of sufficient duration, which is important (a) for filling of the ventricle, and (b) because coronary perfusion and myocardial oxygen supply occurs only during diastole. The duration of contraction and relaxation is determined by calcium removal from the contractile filaments, mainly by the calcium pump in the sarcoplasmic reticulum Increased heart rate causes more rapid relaxation due to increased activation of the calcium pump. The latter mechanism is impaired in the hypertrophied or failing heart due to reduced transcription of the genes that supply the calcium pump proteins. Therefore, in heart failure patients an increase of heart rate may almost abolish the diastolic interval, which leads to reduced ventricular filling, and reduces myocardial blood supply (Davies et al., 1995, “Reduced Contraction and Altered Frequency Response of Isolated Ventricular Myocytes From Patients With Heart Failure,” Circulation 92: 2540-2549).
The syndrome of heart failure is a common course for the progression of many forms of heart disease. Heart failure may be considered to be the condition in which an abnormality of cardiac function is responsible for the inability of the heart to pump blood at a rate commensurate with the requirements of the metabolizing tissues, or can do so only at an abnormally elevated filling pressure. There are many specific disease processes that can lead to heart failure with a resulting difference in pathophysiology of the failing heart, such as the dilatation of the left ventricular chamber. Etiologies that can lead to this form of failure include idiopathic cardiomyopathy, viral cardiomyopathy, and ischemic cardiomyopathy. The process of ventricular dilatation is generally the result of chronic volume overload or specific damage to the myocardium In a normal heart that is exposed to long term increased cardiac output requirements, for example, that of an athlete, there is an adaptive process of ventricular dilation and myocyte hypertrophy. In this way, the heart fully compensates for the increased cardiac output requirements. With damage to the myocardium or chronic volume overload, however, there are increased requirements put on the contracting myocardium to such a level that this compensated state is never achieved and the heart continues to dilate. The basic problem with a large dilated left ventricle is that there is a significant increase in wall tension and/or stress both during diastolic filling and during systolic contraction. In a normal heart, the adaptation of muscle hypertrophy (thickening) and ventricular dilatation maintain a fairly constant wall tension for systolic contraction. However, in a failing heart, the ongoing dilatation is greater than the hypertrophy and the result is a rising wall tension requirement for systolic contraction. This is felt to be an ongoing insult to the muscle myocyte resulting in further muscle damage. The increase in wall stress is also true for diastolic filling. Additionally, because of the lack of cardiac output, there is generally a rise in ventricular filing pressure from several physiologic mechanisms. Moreover, in diastole there is both a diameter increase and a pressure increase over normal, both contributing to higher wall stress levels. The increase in diastolic wall stress is felt to be the primary contributor to ongoing dilatation of the chamber.
Presently available treatments for CHF fall into three generally categories: (1) pharmacological, e.g., diuretics; (2) assist systems, e.g., pumps; and (3) surgical treatments. With respect to pharmacological treatments, diuretics have been used to reduce the workload of the heart by reducing blood volume and preload. While drug treatment improves quality of life, it has little effect on survival. Current pharmacological treatment includes a combination of diuretics, vasodilators, inotropes, .beta.-blockers, and Angiotensin-Converting-Enzy-me (ACE)-inhibitors (Bristow & Gilbert, 1995, “Improvement in Cardiac Myocyte Function by Biological Effects of Medical Therapy: A New Concept in the Treatment of Heart Failure,” European Heart Journal 16, Supplement F: 20-31). The effect is a decrease of symptoms, and improved quality of life, but little change in mortality. Moreover, the exercise tolerance of most patients is extremely low, as a consequence of limited oxygen supply through the lungs. Long lasting lack of exercise and malnutrition may contribute to the condition and partly explain the exercise intolerance. Indeed, the lack of exercise and deterioration of cardiac muscle may each contribute to each other, with a snowballing effect (Coats et al., 1992, “Controlled Trial of Physical Training in Chronic Heart Failure: Exercise Perfolinance, Hemodynamics, Ventilation, and Autonomic Function,” Circulation 85: 2119-2131). Clinically, preload is defined in several ways including left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP), or left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV). Physiologically, the preferred definition is the length of stretch of the sarcomere at end diastole. Diuretics reduce extra cellular fluid that builds in congestive heart failure patients increasing preload conditions. Nitrates, arteriolar vasodilators, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors have been used to treat heart failure through the reduction of cardiac workload through the reduction of afterload. Afterload may be defined as the tension or stress required in the wall of the ventricle during ejection. Inotropes such as digoxin are cardiac glycosides and function to increase cardiac output by increasing the force and speed of cardiac muscle contraction. These drug therapies offer some beneficial effects but do not stop the progression of the disease. Captopril, enalapril and other inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) have been used to treat congestive heart failure. See Merck Index, 1759 and 3521(11th ed. 1989); Kramer, B. L. et al. Circulation 1983, 67(4):755-763. However, such ACE inhibitors have generally provided only moderate or poor results. For example, captopril therapy generally provides only small increases in exercise time and functional capacity. Captopril also has provided only small reductions in mortality rates.
Assist devices used to treat CHF include, for example, mechanical pumps. Mechanical pumps reduce the load on the heart by performing all or part of the pumping function normally done by the heart. Currently, mechanical pumps are used to sustain the patient while a donor heart for transplantation becomes available for the patient. There are also a number of pacing devices used to treat CHF. However, in the chronic ischemic heart, high rate pacing may lead to increased diastolic pressure, indicating calcium overload and damage of the muscle fibers. Finally, there are at least three surgical procedures for treatment of heart failure: 1) heart transplant; 2) dynamic cardiomyoplasty; and 3) the Batista partial left ventriculectomy. Heart transplantation has serious limitations including restricted availability of organs and adverse effects of immunosuppressive therapies required following heart transplantation. Cardiomyoplasty includes wrapping the heart with skeletal muscle and electrically stimulating the muscle to contract synchronously with the heart in order to help the pumping function of the heart. The Batista partial left ventriculectomy includes surgically remodeling the left ventricle by removing a segment of the muscular wall. This procedure reduces the diameter of the dilated heart, which in turn reduces the loading of the heart. However, this extremely invasive procedure reduces muscle mass of the heart.
One category of CHF is diastolic heart failure (DHF), which afflicts between 30% and 70% of those patients with heart failure. DHF is an episodic clinical syndrome that can instigate pulmonary edema, possibly necessitating hospitalization and ventilatory support. The heart is a complex pump structured of two atria and two ventricles that pump blood in parallel into the pulmonary circulation at a relatively low pressure (right ventricle peak systolic pressure is about 25 mmHg) and the systemic circulation (left ventricle peak systolic pressure is about 120 mmHg). During the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle the ventricles of the heart fill via the respective atria. The pressure differential that propels blood from the respective venous circulations to the atria and ventricles (systemic to the right ventricle and pulmonary to the left ventricle) is low, less than about 5 mmHg. On the left side, during diastole (when the mitral valve opens), pressure in the left atrium normally is not more than 12 mmHg. Due to active diastolic relaxation at the onset of diastole, the pressure difference between the left atrium and the left ventricle is augmented contributing to the early rapid diastolic filling of the left ventricle. Diastolic pressures in the atrium and the ventricle at this phase of the cardiac cycle drop quickly to less than 5 mmHg and equalize. At this point during diastole, the process of filling the left ventricle partially stops (diastiasis) and is renewed only towards late diastole, when active contraction of the atrium occurs, resulting in increased left atrial pressure and an increased pressure differential between the atrium and the ventricle. Atrial contraction is very important for maintaining adequate left ventricular filling during exercise and other states of increased cardiac output demand, or when the left ventricle fails to relax normally such as during ischemia or LV hypertrophy. Toward the end of diastole, pressure in the left ventricle (LVEDP) is increased but is normally not more than 12 mmHg.
Disease states in which active and passive relaxation properties of the left ventricle are disturbed, or the pumping and emptying capacity of the ventricle is reduced, may be translated to increased diastolic pressures in the left ventricle. The higher pressures and distension of the left ventricle cause a rise in wall stress and increased oxygen consumption. Up to a limit, the increased diastolic pressure and increased ventricular size result in augmented stroke volume. This compensatory mechanism is limited and has a significant physiologic price mainly when the slope of the pressure-volume curves turn steep, and left ventricular diastolic pressures becomes markedly high (>20 mmHg). At this point, a state of pulmonary congestion may ensue, turning later to a life threatening state of pulmonary edema.
A number of cardiovascular diseases can cause significant cardiac dysfunction and lead to the above-mentioned pathophysiologic state and pulmonary edema. These include: hypertension, ischemic heart disease state and post myocardial infarction, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, including aortic stenosis, mitral stenosis, aortic regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, and combined valvular heart disease. Other primary myocardial diseases such as post partum and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may cause similar conditions. In all these disease states with either decreased ability for the left ventricle to pump blood (systolic dysfunction) or reduced fling capacity (diastolic dysfunction) left ventricular diastolic pressure rises. Increased diastolic pressure in the left ventricle eventually in and of itself becomes a cause for greater degradation in cardiac function than occurred as a result of the original insult. The augmented pressures may cause as stated previously pulmonary congestion and dyspnea. At extreme conditions the clinical state may deteriorate to pulmonary edema.
There are several known techniques to attempt to overcome the state of left ventricular dysfunction, increased diastolic left ventricular pressures and pulmonary congestion. However, none are fully satisfactory. For example, pharmacological treatments are the only practical methods for chronic therapy for most of the population with congestive heart failure. The pharmacological agents used to treat congestive heart failure result in a reduction in diastolic pressure and prevention of pulmonary and peripheral congestion discussed above, i.e., diuretics, vasodilators and digoxin. Diuretics reduce the volume load and thereby reduce preload and diastolic wall stress. Vasodilators have a dual effect in reducing arterial resistance as well as increasing venous capacitance, thereby reducing preload and after load and wall stress throughout the cardiac cycle. These drugs, either direct acting on the vasculature or via neurohormonal mechanisms (ACE inhibitors), are limited in their effect since they may cause hypotension in a significant number of patients with myocardial dysfunction. These pharmacological agents are of limited value mainly because of their side effects. The use of diuretics is associated with side effects related to the drugs and to the detrimental effect on renal function. Vasodilators have also many side effects some of which limit the use of the drugs and their efficacy including hypotension in many patients. Drug therapy results in many of the patients in relative clinical stability. However, episodes where intraventricular diastolic pressure may rise above physiologic needs for cardiac stroke volume augmentation and culminate into pulmonary edema occur often and are very difficult to manage.
In extreme acute situations, temporary assist devices and intraaortic balloons may be helpful. Cardiac transplantation and chronic LVAD implants are solutions available for a small part of the patient population and as last resort. However, all the assist devices currently used are intended to improve pumping capacity of the heart and increase cardiac output to levels compatible with normal life. Finally, cardiac transplantation is another solution, but is not a very practical and is limited to extreme cases and as are the various assist devices. The mechanical devices were built to allow propulsion of significant amount of blood (liters/min) and this is also their main technological limitation. The need for power supply, relatively large pumps and danger of hemolysis and infection are all of significant concern.
Thus, there exists a long-felt and as of yet unsolved need for a treatment that addresses the course of congestive heart failure, and in particular the high pressure of the left ventricle and the compounding factors that are associated with it. It would therefore be desirable to provide methods, apparatus and treatments that beneficially reduce and regulate the pressure within the left ventricle. It is an object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for reducing left ventricular end diastolic pressure, and more particularly to provide methods and apparatus without deleterious side effects. It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus that can be used in a minimally invasive manner for both acute and chronic treatments.